Light Me Up

by Isabel Sharpe

  Melissa had dated here and there, but no guy seemed to hold her interest for long. She was happiest when she was learning and growing, and men didn’t seem to be able to bring her that same stimulation.

  Of course there was that other stimulation only men could bring, but given her experiences in that arena, she thought on balance a good class did more for her. Maybe she had a low sex drive. She hadn’t been eager to compare notes with other women.

  In any case, she was only twenty-five. She could take the next ten years to enjoy herself, if that’s what she wanted, before she got herself tied down. Gretchen, however, didn’t have that long. When Ted asked her to marry him two weeks ago, no one had been surprised, but Melissa nearly blew a gasket when they announced the date. Who could plan a wedding in five weeks? Certainly not Gretchen and Ted. Big sister would have to try.

  Breathing deeply, ambling along, listening to Gretchen ramble excitedly about her and Ted’s plans—or rather their intentions not to plan—Melissa finally said goodbye to her sister at the corner of Broadway and Olive, by the Come to Your Senses building, home of the enticing A Taste for All Pleasures bakery. Most days she forced herself to walk past, being an admitted control freak about her calorie intake, but today her stomach felt positively concave with hunger. Besides, she was working out again since her shoulder had healed, and needed those extra calories. Right?

  Absolutely.

  She mounted the steps to the building and went inside, then pushed open the bakery door, which triggered a familiar tune she couldn’t place. A pretty woman about Melissa’s age, maybe a couple of years older, was just putting out a tray of chocolate chip scones that smelled so amazing in a room already full of amazing smells that Melissa wanted to dive in and suck down a dozen of everything. Did the store do wedding cakes? Gretchen wanted to make her own, but last time she’d baked—a chocolate layer cake for Dad’s birthday—Melissa, their father and Ted had pointedly turned the conversation to Olympic discuses, Frisbees, barbell weights, train wheels...until even Gretchen had broken down laughing.

  The woman heard the chime, looked up at Melissa and did a startled double take.

  “Oh. Hi, there. Hello.” The woman was staring now. “What— Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” Melissa gestured to the bakery case, wondering if she’d turned orange or sprouted antennae. “I’ll have one of the chocolate chip scones, please. And a cup of coffee. To go.”

  “Yes. Sure.” Holding a square of waxed paper, the woman picked out a scone and put it into a white paper bag. “Anything else?”

  “Well...” Melissa eyed a rack of perfectly domed cupcakes. Maybe instead of a traditional wedding cake, multiple tiers of cupcakes? She’d try them out. “One chocolate, one spice with buttercream and one yellow with strawberry frosting, please.”

  “Have you been here before?” The woman rang up the purchases, glancing at Melissa every few seconds. “You look awfully familiar.”

  “I’ve passed by on my way home, but haven’t come in.” She pointed in the direction of the park. “I’ve been taking an early yoga class at Cal Anderson.”

  The chestnut head shot up. “You take yoga in the park?”

  “Uh. Yes.” Melissa took a step back. This had officially become weird. “Why, is it dangerous?”

  “No, no, no, of course not, I’m sorry.” The woman offered her hand over the counter. “I’m Angela Loukas.”

  “Melissa.” Something about Angela’s eagerness made Melissa protective of her last name. You never knew. Angela could be a cult member who recruited yoga devotees and turned them to the devil.

  A group of young mothers came in with kids and strollers, saving Melissa from having to come up with reasons not to sign a pledge to Satan. Angela hesitated, glancing between Melissa and the moms, then moved reluctantly away. “Nice to meet you, Melissa. The coffee is on the counter, help yourself. And...why don’t you walk around the other businesses on the floor before you go? You’d enjoy...everyone. Especially at the end of the hall, there’s—”

  “Excuse me?” The mom of a fussy toddler broke in impatiently. “I’m sorry, but my child is about to lose it. Can we order?”

  Melissa turned toward the coffee counter. Especially at the end of the hall there was what? She’d been planning to explore anyway, but Angela’s suggestion had seemed oddly pointed. Maybe cult headquarters were down there?

  Shrugging, she poured a cup of coffee and wandered out of the bakery, stopping to peer into the window of the business opposite, Bonnie Blooms. Beautiful shop, flowers everywhere, arranged in buckets at different levels, like a floral jungle.

  Gretchen was in such sticker shock over florists’ prices, she was ready to give up on flowers except for a bridal nosegay of daisies. As if! Melissa would check this place out. If the owner could produce a nice, relatively inexpensive bouquet, the shop might be a good candidate for her sister’s limited-budget wedding.

  She approached the counter and smiled at the shop’s proprietor, whose red hair was set off dramatically by a yellow-and-black bumble-bee-striped minidress.

  “Hi, there, can I help you?” The woman returned Melissa’s smile, then blinked, looking surprised, then slightly puzzled.

  Oh, no. Not her, too.

  “I’d like a mixed bouquet—whatever you think looks nice.”

  “Okay. Sure.” She hadn’t stopped staring long enough to blink. “How much did you want to spend?”

  “About twenty dollars.”

  “Coming right up.” The woman backed toward a bucket to her left and was reaching for a rose, when her attention was caught by something across the hall, toward or in the bakery, Melissa couldn’t see. The woman froze for a moment, eyebrows lifted, peeked back to find Melissa watching her and jerked her head away.

  What the hell was going on in this place? “Is something wrong?”

  “No. No. Sorry.” She laughed nervously. “I...thought I knew you.”

  “Seems to be a lot of that going on around here.”

  “No, no.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “I was mistaken. You, um, look like someone we used to know.”

  “We?”

  “Angela.” She gestured to Melissa’s paper bag. “At the bakery. I’m Bonnie. We, uh, went to college with someone who looked freakily like you.”

  “Okay.” That was more comforting than the devil-cult explanation, but Bonnie hadn’t sounded quite convinced, so Melissa wasn’t, either. “I went to Pacific University in Oregon.”

  “Definitely not you, then!” She laughed awkwardly. “Have a look around. I’ll just be a minute.”

  “Sure.” Melissa meandered through the shop, stopping to inhale over a blossom here and there, the soft fragrances enhancing her temporary inner peace. Really a lovely place. And Bonnie seemed pleasant and anxious to please, apart from the weird staring incident. Her talent remained to be seen.

  “All set. Here you go.”

  “That was fast.” Melissa returned to the counter and caught her breath. The bouquet surpassed her expectations. Hardly a skimpy bunch of carnations and baby’s breath, the assortment was lush, full and gorgeously shaded with the burgundies and pinks of Peruvian lilies, a few exquisite roses and pale greenish-yellow tightly bunched flowers Melissa didn’t recognize. If she had to guess how much it cost, she would have said twice what she’d asked to spend. “Oh, how beautiful.”

  “Enjoy it.” Bonnie rang up the purchase, adding one of her cards to the bouquet. Only eighteen dollars and change. Gretchen could have herself a very talented florist here.

  “Thank you.” Melissa buried her face in the delicately scented blooms as she walked out, glancing farther down the hall then at her watch. She had about fifteen minutes before she’d need to get her car, drive to work, shower quickly in the company exercise room and deal with a rather fishy sexual harassment complaint. It was the third one from Bob Whatsisname in three years, as if he was really desperate to be sexually harassed and hadn’t been able to get anyon
e to cooperate yet. But having finally stepped into Come to Your Senses after passing it so many times, she was curious to check out the building’s other occupants.

  Past the flower shop she came to a photography studio: Jack Shea. In his front window hung wedding pictures, anniversaries, graduation shots—the usual, but with a creativity that set them apart. A bride caught in profile descending a medieval-looking curving stone staircase, a graduate in mid–celebratory leap. Melissa lingered at the window, drawn to the images. Gretchen should definitely check him out, too, though he’d likely be too expensive.

  She moved to the other side of the entrance and encountered a picture in a completely different style. Horrifying, disturbing, but also incredibly powerful, with a poignancy that kept her riveted for far longer than she could usually stand still. The photo was a close-up of a naked back on which a network of cracks had been superimposed, like those on asphalt or an eggshell, so that the skin looked as if it was scarred or about to disintegrate. Melissa stood for a long time absorbing the extraordinary concept and the strong emotions the image evoked.

  It seemed hardly possible this work of art was by the same person who’d done the sweet celebration pictures opposite. Melissa peered curiously into the studio, unwilling to venture inside since she had to get to work. But she should at least pick up Jack Shea’s card, even if he was out of their pathetic price range. Gretchen had been fine with the idea of passing out disposable cameras to the guests to take photos of the ceremony and reception. Melissa wanted her sister to have something better to frame.

  She took a step inside, feeling as if she were trespassing, though a sign hung on the door said Open. Another step, her soft-soled sneakers making no noise. On one back wall hung more wedding, baby and family portraits. On the other, more of the artsy style, including the distant rear view of a lone figure on a pier staring out at the ocean beyond him, nothing but gray-blue sky, gray-blue water and his questioning solitude. Again, she was mesmerized, taking in the image for an endless moment, feeling called to something she couldn’t name.

  A noise from the back made her jump. Through the open doorway she saw a line of hanging prints, which seemed to be of—

  The sound of a chair scraping across the floor distracted her. Was that Jack Shea? She felt unaccountably nervous, almost guilty, as if she’d been caught prying into his private life.

  Footsteps approached. Melissa tried to picture him. The wedding images were so fresh and vibrant, full of hope—Jack would be a younger man. Except the depth and pain in the torso images pointed to more life experience than a young man would generally—

  He appeared in the doorway.

  Oh.

  For a good five seconds they stared at each other.

  Jack Shea, if this was Jack Shea, was not the weird, skinny young man she’d pictured, nor was he the bearded Bohemian child-of-the-sixties. This guy was...

  Well, she’d just say her yoga-calm was in serious trouble.

  Brown eyes, brown hair, nothing particularly thrilling to describe. But what he did for those brown eyes, which jumped straight into hers, and the brown hair, tousled sexily like a rock star’s, set off all kinds of electrical reactions. Add to that broad shoulders straining the seams of a maroon T-shirt that showed off the solid planes of his chest and highlighted firm biceps and trim jeans-covered hips.

  Yum. And wow. Melissa did not generally respond to men with quite this much...response.

  As she stood there, her brain managed to resume the tiniest bit of functioning, enough to realize he was staring at her the way Bonnie and Angela had been staring—because Melissa looked like a college friend, or whatever the party line was. Not because he was overcome by her, too.

  Darn it.

  “Are you Jack Shea?”

  “I am, yes.” He laughed nervously, ran his hand over his head, which would explain the sexy tousle. “And you are— I mean, I think I’ve seen—”

  “I know.” She held up her hand. “I look like your college friend.”

  His eyes shot wider. “My what?”

  Hmm. He obviously had no idea what she was talking about. “Bonnie and Angela told me about her?”

  “Oh. Yes. Okay.” He continued staring, clearly more rattled by whatever the hell she represented than Bonnie and Angela had been.

  Unless...maybe that college friend did exist and had meant something to him?

  Melissa’s imagination went straight to a picture of Jack Shea passionately entwined with this woman who was apparently her twin. Which meant she was, in essence, picturing herself sleeping with him.

  Good lord.

  She made her body relax and smiled beatifically. “I was just passing by. Wondered if you had a card and a price list. My sister’s getting married and hasn’t settled on a photographer yet.”

  “Sure. When’s her big day?” He reached under the counter and came up with a sheet, which she took, smiling her thanks. A smile that went on life support when she saw how high his prices were. As expected, but still disappointing.

  “End of the month.” Melissa nodded at his surprised expression. “I know, practically tomorrow in bride time. She and her fiancé wanted to do it simply and soon. They settled on the twenty-ninth.”

  He was already checking his BlackBerry. “Morning, afternoon or evening?”

  “Oh, I’m not sure we can—” She waved the sheet Jack had given her, not wanting to admit he was out of her league.

  “Just checking the date for you.”

  “You don’t—” Melissa sighed. Easier to play along. “Late afternoon.”

  “I had a cancellation last week, so I could do that.” He grinned at her, charming as hell, and quirked an eyebrow meaningfully. “In fact, I’d love to do that.”

  Ah. She’d just bet he would. It wouldn’t surprise her if a majority of his clients were females who’d fallen for how much Jack would love to work with them, too.

  “Okay. Good to know.” She stepped back to leave, more disappointed than she cared to admit that a guy of his talent was free on Gretchen’s wedding day and they couldn’t use him. “We’ll give you a call if—”

  “What’s your name?”

  She stopped in surprise. Why did he want to know? Had Angela sent her to cult headquarters after all? “Sorry, but I really need to get—”

  “You live around here?” He leaned against the counter, consummately casual.

  She was immediately suspicious. Something wasn’t right. “Not far. Listen, thanks for the—”

  “I was wondering why I haven’t seen you around more.”

  Oh, for heaven’s sake. “Because I haven’t been around more?”

  He chuckled, watching her, the intensity of those brown eyes making it hard to maintain her calm—as if it wasn’t hard enough anyway. “That would explain it.”

  Melissa looked pointedly at her watch. Whatever was going on in this building, she really didn’t like being the only one who didn’t know what it was. “I need to get to work. Thanks for the price sheet.”

  “Let me get you a brochure with more information.” He looked under the counter and frowned. “Hang on, I’ll get one from—”

  “No, it’s not necessary.” She waved the sheet. “I’ve got this, it’s all I need.”

  “I have more in back.” He was already turning away.

  “Seriously, don’t bother.”

  He dismissed her with a wave. “It’s no prob—”

  “We can’t afford you, Mr. Shea.”

  There. Embarrassing, but that would put an end to it and she could make her escape.

  He turned back with a half smile, eyes warm. Very warm. “Call me Jack. And you are...?”

  She sighed impatiently. “Melissa.”

  “Melissa.” By now the eye-warmth was positively inappropriate. “I’m sure we can work something out....”

  What the— Melissa drew in a sharp breath. Was her insta-crush messing with her brain, or was this guy about to teach Bob Whatsisname what real sexual
harassment sounded like?

  She drew herself up into her best attitude of icy disapproval. “What kind of ‘something’?”

  “Let me get the brochure. We can discuss it. Maybe over coffee.”

  Coffee! Melissa was flabbergasted. Never had her icy disapproval so totally failed her. Jack hadn’t even noticed. In fact, he’d acted as if she was dying to take him up on whatever offer he flung at her. Good God, the arrogance. “You’re asking me out?”

  “Just to talk.” He winked and disappeared into the back, leaving Melissa halfway to exploding her arteries with outrage. If he thought she was going to sleep with him so her sister could have him photograph her wedding at a discount, he had another think coming.

  She was about to whirl around and stomp her way out when the door he’d pulled shut behind him swung slowly open. Behind it, the line of prints again caught her attention. Melissa stepped closer, frowning. Why did they seem—

  She gasped. The bakery bag dropped from her hand.

  Hanging from a wire were print after print after print of a woman dressed in different outfits, which meant they’d been taken on different days. A lot of different days. The woman was doing yoga. In Cal Anderson Park.

  They were all pictures of Melissa.

  2

  Blood Pressure: High

  WHAT THE—

  Melissa put a hand to her chest to calm her breathing, not sure whether to be outraged or terrified, so she settled on both, heart pounding, ears buzzing.

  With one glance, all that good yoga relaxation this morning was shot to hell. This was exactly the type of upset Dr. Glazer had cautioned her to avoid. But she didn’t see any other way to react. Jack had been taking pictures of her—without her knowledge. And now he was being flirty with her and wanted her to have coffee with him. And he really seemed to want to photograph her sister’s wedding. Was that what he did? Skulk around spying on women? Was he a sexual predator? Was Melissa in some kind of danger? Did he know where she lived? Should she run right now and call the police?